The War in Iraq, Fiction and Reality

Published: December 22, 2004

To the Editor:

It was fun to read ''Roth Plot II'' (column, Dec. 20), especially because William Safire's nightmarish fantasy about the consequences of not going to war with Saddam Hussein makes light reading compared with the nightmarish reality of Iraq after the toppling of its leader.

But Mr. Safire wiped the grin off my face with his reference to President Clinton's ''pinprick response with cruise missiles.'' Mr. Safire obviously forgets what David A. Kay's searches have now revealed: that the ''pinpricks'' of Desert Fox actually destroyed Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons capabilities.

I am nevertheless comforted by the hope that fantasy is Mr. Safire's last stop before reality finally intrudes.

Martin Indyk
Washington, Dec. 20, 2004

The writer, assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs in the second Clinton administration, is director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.